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Now, it was too late. I was engaged and I had to walk away from the one guy that I’d always held out hope for having a future with. Now, it didn’t matter. He said he was leaving early, and I could do the same if I wanted to. I chose to stay though, not leaving until it was about seven. It was to the point that I didn’t necessarily want to go home.
There was no one parked out front when I got to my apartment, and I thought that I would have a few minutes to myself. I didn’t. My Aunt Fran came through with a smile on her face as soon as I put the key in the door. It didn’t help that she owned the apartment block that I lived in. Most of my family did and while I lived on my own officially, I had family around me all the time, butting in and helping out. It was a mixed bag, and my aunt was someone that could go either way.
“So, did you quit yet?”
I groaned inwardly and left the door open because I knew she was coming in. The last thing that I wanted to talk about right now was my job and how I was supposed to get rid of it. I wasn’t pregnant, didn’t have a family to take care of, so I had plenty of time to work.
“I have a couple of months before the wedding,” I reminded my aunt. She clicked her tongue at me and said that I was going to need more time than I had now to get ready for the wedding. It was going to be a huge thing and unlike most engaged women, I wasn’t looking forward to the wedding either. Dalian was a nice guy, but he was not the one for me. How could I ever be excited to be with someone that I had never even really met before he asked? I knew nothing about Dalian, just that his family and mine were close.
That, and I was soon going to have to live my life making him happy and procreate with him. He was cute, clean, well-mannered, but love and children? That was a bit too much. When I thought of those things, I thought of Derrick. My rude as hell boss, which was sexy even when he didn’t want to be. That man could yell at me, and I still wanted him. That probably said that there was something wrong with me, but that was just how it was. I wanted Derrick, not Dalian. Spending lunch with Derrick just made it more so.
“I know that look, Augustine. You better keep yourself straight.”
My aunt couldn’t know, could she?
5
Derrick
Augustine came in the next morning, and it looked like she hadn’t slept at all. I asked her if she was alright, and she waved me off like there was no reason to ask her such a question. There was though. I started to ask her what was wrong and then with her dismissal of it, I told her that she needed to stop coming in looking like she’d been up partying all night.
“Won’t do it again, sir.”
Augustine’s tone was crisp, and she was perturbed with me. I felt the same feelings that I didn’t really care. It was always too much to argue with her about. She was hiding something, and my eyes flicked to the ring that had all of my attention.
“I need you to put off a couple of my meetings that are scheduled.”
“Were you up all night partying?”
I told her that I wasn’t up partying, but that I had things to do. I then reminded her that I was the boss, and I shouldn’t have to tell her what I was up to. I didn’t know why I was so short with her, but I couldn’t help it. Being around her was hard and everything was harder today.
Augustine just fake smiled at me like a champ. “When would you like the meeting changed to?”
It was a legitimate question, but I couldn’t get over how worked up she made me. “You know my schedule better than I do.”
“I thought I knew you…”
I asked her what that meant, and Augustine waved me off again. I hated when she did that.
“I never assume to know anyone. People tell you what they want you to know and leave a whole lot out.”
“They do, don’t they?” Augustine asked with a smile. She finally looked my way, bright eyes wide and staring back at me. Why didn’t she know what she did to me? Why was she with someone else, going to marry someone else? Didn’t she know that we were supposed to be together?
I gave her a time for the meetings, and she thanked me before I left. I had a few things to get done, and she didn’t need to know that I had put everything off because a friend of mine was going to be in town. We were going to meet for a few drinks, and we would likely not stop having fun until it got dark. I needed it. Jesse was the same guy that I’d shared my room with in college. I had dropped out after a few semesters, but Jesse and I had a friendship that spanned years now.
He was at the bar where we’d agreed to meet. It was close to the airport, and we had met there many times in the past. Now though, I could have sworn that I felt differently. When Jesse started talking about the different women in his life, I got quiet. He was going to want to know who I was dating, and I didn’t want to have to tell him the truth. I was hung up on a chick that I couldn’t have.
Jesse looked cocky and confident. I’d wanted to be like him when we first met, and he’d relayed that being confident was all that I needed. He would tell me even if I didn’t really feel it, I was supposed to pretend that I did. It was a fake it until I made it situation. I’d thought at the time he was crazy. He wasn’t. It didn’t take long at all before I was following in his footsteps and not letting anything bother me. Or at least not showing it.
“Who is the lady that has you all twisted up?”
It wasn’t quite what was going on, but certainly close enough. I could see that Jesse wasn’t going to have any problem calling me out. “Just some chick.”
He grinned, pushed fingers through his thick, blonde hair and asked me what was going on. I didn’t want to talk about it. I was failing at securing the woman I wanted. I was depressed about it.
“She must be a hell of a chick.”
I agreed that she was, and he asked me some more questions about Augustine, and I answered all of them. He told me that Augustine sounded good, and it made sense why I would want her. I felt the same way, but never would have I have said it out loud.
